Stacking type tray and tray developing mechanism and stacking type tray developing system

ABSTRACT

To develop optical discs stored while being stacked and to load them to a plurality of recording/reproducing devices simultaneously. Trays for mounting optical discs are stacked to configure an optical disc transportation body, and the portions being exposed without overlapping when the stacked trays are viewed from the stacking direction are utilized as tray operation portions for handling. Supporting portions abutting against the tray operation portions inherent to respective trays in one to one correspondence are fixed with an interval in the vertical direction to the frames configuring a tray distributing/holding portion. The tray operation portion of each tray is held by the supporting portion at each position by moving the optical disc transportation body downward along the frames, and intervals corresponding to the arrangement pitch of recording/reproducing devices are formed between respective trays.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a stacking type tray for compactlyhousing disc-type storage media such as optical discs in a stackedmanner, a tray developing mechanism for forming a gap suited for loadingthe media to a recording-reproducing device between the storage media oneach tray by developing the stacked trays, and a stacking type traydeveloping system in which those are combined.

BACKGROUND ART

Recently, storage devices for storing information have notably come tobe of mass capacitance, due to increases in amount of informationhandled in computers.

The main types of such storage devices are disc-type storage media suchas hard discs and optical discs, and magnetic tapes.

Hard discs are superior to other two types in terms of the speed ofrecording and reproducing as well as the random accessibility, so thatthe hard discs are used as main storage devices. Disc-type storage mediasuch as the optical discs as well as magnetic tapes are used forarchives and backups.

Magnetic tapes are superior to disc-type recording media such as opticaldiscs in terms of low price and recording capacity per portion volume,while the disc-type storage media such as the optical discs are superiorto the magnetic tapes in terms of the random accessibility and savingproperty.

Therefore, there has been a great demand for a storage device which hasthe superior points of the magnetic tape and the disc-type storagemedium such as the optical disc, which is a storage device of a lowprice, large capacity, and excellent random accessibility as well assaving property.

As a method for increasing the capacity of the disc-type storage mediumsuch as the optical disc that is superior in terms of the randomaccessibility and the saving property, for example, there is a methodproposed as shown in Patent Document 1 which stacks a plurality ofrecording media to be housed in a single case, develops the storagemedia extracted from the case, and loads them simultaneously to aplurality of recording/reproducing devices.

However, with such method, it is necessary to connect each recordingmedium with a special disc connector and allow connecting/separatingactions between the storage media. Thus, the recording media need to bein a special structure, so that conventional production facilitiescannot be utilized. This results in increasing the price. Further, eachstorage medium cannot be easily exchanged individually.

As the structure with which a plurality of recording media are stackedand housed in a single case, there are also proposed an optical disccartridge disclosed in Patent Document 2, a continuous driving devicedisclosed in Patent Document 3, and a disc reproducing device disclosedin Patent Document 4. However, all of those are simply the devices whichextract the recording medium one by one from a plurality of stackedrecording media and set the medium to a recording/reproducing device,and those are not structured to load the plurality of recording media toa plurality of recording/reproducing devices simultaneously.

Among those, particularly the disc reproducing device of Patent Document4 is disclosed in regards to a point which makes it easy to extract therecording medium that is a target to be drawn out through shifting therecording medium downwards when drawing out one of the stacked recordingmedia to increase a gap between the recording medium and the recordingmedium positioned on the upper side thereof. However, this simply makesit easy to extract a single piece of recording medium, and the gapbetween the recording medium as the drawing target and the recordingmedium placed thereunder becomes decreased inversely from the abovecase. Thus, all the gaps between the recording media cannot be increasedsimultaneously. Therefore, it is not possible at all to achieve theobject of developing the stacked recording media and loading those to aplurality of recording/reproducing device simultaneously.

Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 2004-145994(FIG. 1, FIG. 2)

Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 2007-172726(FIG. 1, FIG. 4, FIG. 5)

Patent Document 3: Japanese Unexamined Parent Publication Hei 8-31072(FIG. 1, FIG. 2)

Patent Document 4: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Hei 10-283709(FIG. 1, FIG. 6.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention

An object of the present invention is to provide a stacking type tray, atray developing mechanism, and a stacking type tray developing system,which can compactly stack and house disc-type recording media withoutforming the disc-type recording media in a special structure, and canform a proper gap between each of the recording media for making itpossible to load the disc-type recording media to a plurality ofrecording/reproducing devices simultaneously.

Means for Solving the Problems

The stacking type tray of the present invention is a stacking type trayformed by stacking trays for loading disc-type recording media inthickness direction. In order to achieve the foregoing object, thestacking type tray particularly includes tray operation portionsprovided in a circumferential section of each of the trays, which do notoverlap in the thickness direction with any other trays in a state whereall the trays are being stacked.

Further, the tray developing mechanism of the present invention is atray developing mechanism for forming a gap in a predetermined sizebetween each of the trays by developing each of the trays of thestacking type tray described above in the thickness direction. In orderto achieve the foregoing object, the mechanism particularly includes: atray distributing/holding portion including supporting portions forsupporting each of the trays, which are provided by corresponding to thepositions of the tray operation portions with the gap formedtherebetween in the thickness direction so that each of the supportingportions do not overlap in the thickness direction with each other; anda tray distributing up/down table which moves up and down in thethickness direction along the tray distributing/holding portion bysupporting a bottom-face of the tray located on a lowermost layer fromthe bottom side.

The stacking type tray developing system of the present invention is astacking type tray developing system which includes: a stacking typetray formed by stacking a plurality of trays having tray operationportions not overlapping with other trays in thickness directionprovided in circumferential sections; and a tray developing mechanismfor forming a gap in a predetermined size between each of the trays bydeveloping each of the trays of the stacking type tray in the thicknessdirection, wherein the tray developing mechanism includes: a traydistributing/holding portion including supporting portions forsupporting each of the trays, which are provided by corresponding to thepositions of the tray operation portions with the gap formedtherebetween in the thickness direction so that each of the supportingportions do not overlap with each other in the thickness direction; anda tray distributing up/down table which moves up and down in thethickness direction along the tray distributing/holding portion bysupporting a bottom-face of the tray located on a lowermost layer fromthe bottom side.

Effects of the Invention

The stacking type tray of the present invention is capable of stackingthe disc-type recording media and housing them compactly.

Moreover, the tray operation portions not overlapping with each other inthe thickness direction even when all the trays are stacked are providedin the circumferential sections of each tray, so that the gaps betweeneach of the trays can be adjusted in accordance with the arrangedcondition of the plurality of recording/reproducing devices throughrelatively shifting each of the trays along the thickness direction byutilizing the tray operation portions.

Further, with the tray developing mechanism and the stacking type traydeveloping system of the present invention, it is possible to adjust thegaps between each of the trays to be suited for the arranged state ofthe plurality of recording/reproducing devices by automatically formingthe gaps in a preset size between each of the trays through simplymoving up and down the tray distributing up/down table where thestacking type tray is loaded along the tray distribution holdingportion.

BEST MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Next, best modes for carrying out the invention will be described indetails by referring to specific examples.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic structure of each tray byreferring to a case where a stacking type tray 101 is formed by stackingnine pieces of trays for loading optical discs 100 as a type ofdisc-type recording media in the thickness direction.

In this exemplary embodiment, the tray located at the uppermost layer ina stacked state is called a first tray 11, the tray thereunder is calleda second tray 12, and the trays thereunder are also called as a thirdtray 13, a fourth tray 14, - - - , and a ninth tray 19 in the samemanner. In FIG. 1, illustrations of the trays from the third tray 13 tothe eighth tray 18 are omitted.

The basic structures of the first tray 11 to the ninth tray 19 are thesame, so that the structures in common to the first tray 11 to the ninthtray 19 will be described herein by referring to the case of the firsttray 11 shown in FIG. 2.

All of the first tray 11 to the ninth tray 19 have a substantiallyrectangular external shape, and a substantially circular recessed part40 for housing the optical disc 100 is formed in the center thereof asin FIG. 2, for example. The inside diameter of the recessed part 40 isslightly larger than the outer diameter of the optical disc 100, and thedepth of the recessed part 40 is slightly deeper than the thickness ofthe optical disc 100.

The first tray 11 includes protrusions 11 a, 11 a forming tray operationportions at two points on the left side out of two opposing sides, i.e.,the left side and right side shown in FIG. 2, and also includesprotrusions 11 b, 11 b forming tray operation portions at two points onthe right side.

On one of the opposing two sides of the first tray 11 located on theuppermost layer, i.e., on the left side shown in FIG. 2, the protrusions11 a, 11 a are formed in substantially the center of the side with asmall gap δ provided therebetween. In the meantime, on the other sideout of the two opposing sides, i.e., on the right side shown in FIG. 2,the protrusions 11 b, 11 b are formed on both ends of that side.

The structure of the second tray 12 located on the second uppermostlayer is basically the same structure as that of the first tray 11.However, as shown in FIG. 3, those structures are different in respectthat: protrusions 12 a, 12 a on one of the two opposing sides, i.e., onthe left side shown in FIG. 3, are shifted towards the outer side alongthe direction of that side compared to the protrusions 11 a, 11 a on theleft side of the first tray 11 by an amount of the small gap δ; andprotrusions 12 b, 12 b on the other side of the two opposing sides,i.e., on the right side shown in FIG. 3, are shifted towards the innerside along the direction of that side compared to the protrusions 11 b,11 b on the right side of the first tray 11 by an amount of the smallgap δ.

In the relations thereafter between the (n−1)-th tray and the n-th tray(where n is a natural number expressed as 2≦n≦9) are the same as this.Each of the protrusions on the left side of the n-th tray is provided atpositions shifted towards the outer side along that side by an amount ofδ from the positions of each of the protrusions on the left side of the(n−1)-th tray, and each of the protrusions on the right side of the n-thtray is provided at positions shifted towards the inner side along thatside by an amount of δ from the positions of each of the protrusions onthe right side of the (n−1)-th tray.

That is, the isolated distance between each of the protrusions isincreased in order according to the stacking order of the tray from theuppermost layer side on the one (left side) of the two opposing sides,while the isolated distance between each of the protrusions is decreasedin order according to the stacking order of the tray from the uppermostlayer side on the other one (right side) of the two opposing sides. Atlast, on the ninth tray 19 located on the lowermost layer, protrusions19 a, 19 a are formed on both ends of one of the two opposing sides,i.e., on the left side of the ninth tray 19 shown in FIG. 1, andprotrusions 19 b, 19 b are formed substantially in the center of theside with the small gap δ provided therebetween on the other side of thetwo opposing sides, i.e., on the right side of the ninth tray 19 shownin FIG. 1.

In this manner, the isolated distance between each of the protrusions onone side (left side) of the two opposing sides is increased by an amountof “2·δ” according to the stacking order of the tray, and the isolateddistance between each of the protrusions on the other side (right side)of the two opposing sides is decreased by an amount of “2·δ” accordingto the stacking order of the tray. As a result, the sum of the isolateddistance between the two protrusions located on one side (left side) andthe isolated distance between the two protrusions located on the otherside (right side) is always about the same as the length of one side(also same as the length on the other side).

That is, the fact that the sum of the isolated distance between the twoprotrusions located on one side (left side) and the isolated distancebetween the two protrusions located on the other side (right side) isalways about the same as the length of one side (also same as the lengthon the other side) has technically the same meaning as: the twoprotrusion on one side (left side) of the tray located on the uppermostlayer are located in substantially the center of that side while the twoprotrusions on the other side (right side) of the tray located on theuppermost layer are located at both ends of that side; the twoprotrusion on one side (left side) of the tray located on the lowermostlayer are located on both ends of that side while the two protrusions onthe other side (right side) of the tray located on the lowermost layerare located in substantially the center of that side; and the formingpositions of the protrusions are changed at a specific interval from theuppermost layer to the lowermost layer, e.g., by an amount of 5.

Therefore, the value of 5 and the width of the protrusions can be maderelatively larger when the number of trays to be stacked is smaller. Inthe meantime, when the number of trays to be stacked becomes larger, itis necessary to decrease the value of δ and the width of the protrusionsrelatively.

Here, shown is a case where the gap δ is set to be substantially thesame as the width of the protrusions. However, in a case where a smallnumber of trays are stacked, the gap δ may be widened. In a case where astill larger number of trays are stacked, the gap δ may be set to beslightly smaller with respect to the width of the protrusions withinsuch an extent that the trays closest to each other along the stackingdirection, i.e., the (n−1)-th tray and the n-th tray, do not completelyoverlap with each other.

The first tray 11 to the ninth tray 19 are stacked along the thicknessdirection to be overlapped as shown in FIG. 5, and housed in a trayloading portion 43 on a tray base 20 for storing or transporting thosetrays collectively.

As shown in FIG. 4, semi-circular arc fitting protrusions projectedtowards the inner side are formed in the frame part on both sides of thetray base 20. The fitting protrusions are engaged with the semi-circulararc fitting recessed portions on both sides of the first tray 11 to theninth tray 19 so that the position shift of the first tray 11 to theninth tray 19 with respect to the tray base 20 can be prevented.

Further, the width of the tray loading portion 43 in the tray base 20 isformed in a size equal to or less than the width W of the tray shown inFIG. 2, so that the protrusion 11 a-19 a and 11 b-19 b of the first tray11 to the ninth tray 19 are all protruded towards the outer side of thetray base 20 while the first tray 11 to the ninth tray 19 are housed inthe tray loading portion 43 by being stacked along the thicknessdirection as shown in FIG. 6, for example.

By following the above-described condition, i.e., under the conditionwhere the sum of the isolated distance between the two protrusionslocated on one side (left side) and the isolated distance between thetwo protrusions located on the other side (right side) is always aboutthe same as the length of one side (also same as the length on the otherside), more desirably, by following not only that condition but alsosuch a condition that the two protrusions of one side (left side) of thetray located at least on the uppermost layer or the lowermost layer arelocated substantially in the center of the corresponding side and thetwo protrusions of the other side (right side) are located on both endsof the corresponding side, the centroid of each tray comes at a positioninside a trapezoid or rectangular virtual plane of each tray formed byhaving the four protrusions as the vertexes as shown in FIG. 5. Thus,all of the tray can be stably held by supporting a total of fourprotrusions provided on each tray from the bottom side.

FIG. 7 is an illustration showing an example of a state of theprotrusions that may be formed when protrusions are formed on both endsof each of the two opposing sides of the first tray located on theuppermost layer and the isolated distance of the two protrusions in eachof the sides is decreased in order according to the stacking order, andit is an example of an undesired tray structure.

When such structure is employed, the two protrusions are located insubstantially the center of the respective sides in both the left sideand the right side of the tray. Thus, the rectangular virtual plane ofthe tray formed by having the four protrusions as the vertexes becomesextremely small, so that it is extremely difficult to stably hold thetray even if the tray is held by supporting a total of four protrusionsprovided on the tray from the bottom side.Even in a case where the protrusions are formed on both ends of each ofthe two opposing sides of the tray located on the uppermost layer andthe structure of decreasing the isolated distance between the twoprotrusions of each side in order according to the stacking order isemployed, the stability when holding the trays can be secured to someextent when the protrusions on the left side and the protrusions on theright side are provided by restricting the forming positions in sectionsof A and B shown in FIG. 7, for example. However, in that case, the areawhere the protrusions can be provided without being overlapped along thestacking direction becomes extremely decreased, so that it becomesnecessary to decrease the width of the protrusions and the shift amountof the protrusions extremely. This results in decreases in theprotrusions as well as in the holding strength and making the accuracyrequirement severer, or the number of stackable trays becomes extremelyrestricted as a result of securing the width of the protrusions and theshift amount of the protrusions as much as necessary.

In the first tray 11 to the ninth tray 19 of the exemplary embodimentformed according to the above-described conditions, the centroid of eachtray is located inside the trapezoid or rectangular virtual plane ofeach tray formed by having the four protrusions as the vertexes, and thearea of the trapezoid or rectangular virtual plane of each tray formedby having the four protrusions as the vertexes is sufficiently large.Thus, it is possible to stack a sufficient number of trays, e.g., nineor more pieces of trays, to be overlapped without specificallydecreasing the width of the protrusions and the shift amount of theprotrusions. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 6, even under a state where allthe trays are being stacked, there is no such issue generated at allthat any of the protrusions of the trays are overlapped with any othertrays along the thickness direction.

FIG. 8 shows a state where the stacking type tray 101 formed by stackingall the trays from the first tray 11 to the ninth tray 19 are stacked isviewed from the bottom face side along the stacking direction.

None of the protrusions of each tray is overlapped with the protrusionsof any other trays in the thickness direction of the trays, i.e., fromthe stacking direction of the trays.

Further, through holes 42 used for aligning the position and for stablyholding each tray are uniformly opened in all the protrusions 11 a-19 aand 11 b-19 b as shown in FIG. 8, FIG. 2, or the like.

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing one exemplary embodiment of a traydeveloping mechanism for forming a gap in a predetermined size betweeneach of the trays by developing each of the trays from the first tray 11to the ninth tray 19 which configure the stacking type tray 101 in thestacking direction of the trays, and FIG. 10 is a perspective viewthereof.

The main part of the tray developing mechanism 102 according to theexemplary embodiment is formed with: a housing portion 45 which houses aplurality of stacking type trays 101; a developing portion 50 includinga table 2 functioning as a tray distributing up/down table and frames 6a, 6 b functioning as a tray distributing/holding portion; and atransporting portion 60.

Further, a recording/reproducing portion 66 is formed with nine piecesof recording/reproducing devices 201 to 209 provided vertically in acontinuous manner, and it is utilized when writing and readinginformation to/from optical discs 100 extracted from the first tray 11to the ninth tray 19.

As shown in FIG. 9 and FIG. 10, the housing portion 45 includes aplurality of stockers 1 arranged in parallel for housing the opticaldisc transportation bodies 41 including the stacking type trays 101housed on the tray base 20.

Further, the housing portion 45 is provided with a picker (not shown)which functions as a developing-target tray transporting mechanism whichextracts the optical disc transportation body 41 selected as thedeveloping target from the stocker 1 and transports it to the table 2 ofthe developing portion 50.

The picker is in a similar structure as those used in archive librarydevices and the like on the market, so that explanations thereof areomitted.

As shown in FIG. 9 and FIG. 10, the table 2 provided to the developingportion 50 is attached to a vertical actuator 4 via a bracket 3. Thevertical actuator 4 is a driving source for moving the table 2 towardsthe tray thickness direction, i.e., the direction perpendicular to thepaper face in FIG. 9 (top-and-bottom direction in FIG. 10), and the basepart thereof is fixed to a base plate 5 via an L-letter shape stay asshown in FIG. 10.

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary plan view of the developing portion 50 takenfrom the above, and FIG. 13 is a side view of the developing portion 50taken along an arrow A of FIG. 12.

As shown in FIG. 13, protrusion bases 31 a-39 a, 31 b-39 b includingprotruded supporting portions 21 a-29 a, 21 b-29 b for supporting theprotrusions 11 a-19 a, 11 b-19 b of the first tray 11 to ninth tray 19configuring the stacking type tray 101 are integrally attached to theframes 6 a, 6 b which function as the tray distributing/holding portionof the developing portion 50.

The basic structures of the protrusion bases 31 a-39 a, 31 b-39 b arethe same. Thus, the detailed structures thereof are shown in FIG. 14 byreferring to a case of the protrusion bases 31 a, 31 b which correspondto the first tray 11 shown in FIG. 1, the protrusion bases 32 a, 32 bwhich correspond to the second tray 12, and the protrusion bases 39 a,39 b which correspond to the ninth tray 19.

The protrusion base 31 a includes the supporting portions 21 a, 21 awhich correspond to the protrusions 11 a, 11 a of the first tray 11stacked on the uppermost layer, and the protrusion base 31 b includesthe supporting portions 21 b, 21 b which correspond to the protrusions11 b, 11 b of the first tray 11.

The interval between the supporting portions 21 a and 21 a of theprotrusion base 31 a is equivalent to the interval between theprotrusions 11 a and 11 a of the first tray 11, and the interval betweenthe supporting portions 21 b and 21 b of the protrusion base 31 b isequivalent to the interval between the protrusions 11 b and 11 b of thefirst tray 11.Further, positioning pins 44, 44 which are inserted and fitted into thethrough holes 42, 42 provided to the protrusions 11 a, 11 a of the firsttray 11 are vertically provided to the supporting portions 21 a, 21 a ofthe protrusion base 31 a. Similarly, positioning pins 44, 44 which areinserted and fitted into the through holes 42, 42 provided to theprotrusions 11 b, 11 b of the first tray 11 are also vertically providedto the supporting portions 21 b, 21 b of the protrusion base 31 b.The protrusion base 31 a is attached horizontally at a position in thevicinity of the top end part of the inner-side face of the frame 6 awhich configures a part of the tray distributing/holding portion as inFIG. 13. Further, the protrusion base 31 b is attached horizontally at aposition in the vicinity of the top end part of the inner-side face ofthe frame 6 b which configures a part of the tray distributing/holdingportion, i.e., at the same height as the case of the protrusion base 31a.

FIG. 15 is an illustration showing a corresponding relation of theattaching positions of the protrusion base 31 a and the protrusion base31 b.

As shown in FIG. 15, the attaching positions of the frames 6 a, 6 b withrespect to the base plate 5 are adjusted so that the isolated distance Lbetween the positioning pin 44 provided to the supporting portion 21 aof the protrusion base 31 a and the positioning pin 44 provided to thesupporting portion 21 b of the protrusion base 31 b becomes the same asthe isolated distance between the through hole 42 provided to theprotrusion 11 a of the first tray 11 and the through hole 42 provided tothe protrusion 11 b of the first tray 11, i.e., the size W shown in FIG.2. The frames 6 a and 6 b are perpendicular to the base plate 5.

The structures of the protrusion bases 32 a-39 a and 32 b-39 b arebasically the same as the structure of the protrusion bases 31 a and 31b described above.

That is, the protrusion base 32 a includes the supporting portions 22 a,22 a which correspond to the protrusions 12 a, 12 a of the second tray12 while the protrusion base 32 b includes the supporting portions 22 b,22 b which correspond to the protrusions 12 b, 12 b of the second tray12, the protrusion base 33 a includes the supporting portions 23 a, 23 awhich correspond to the protrusions 13 a, 13 a of the third tray 13while the protrusion base 33 b includes the supporting portions 23 b, 23b which correspond to the protrusions 13 b, 13 b of the third tray 13,etc., and the protrusion base 39 a includes the supporting portions 29a, 29 a which correspond to the protrusions 19 a, 19 a of the ninth tray19 while the protrusion base 39 b includes the supporting portions 29 b,29 b which correspond to the protrusions 19 b, 19 b of the ninth tray19.

The attaching state of the protrusion bases 31 a-39 a and 31 b-39 b withrespect to the frames 6 a, 6 b is as shown in FIG. 13, in which theprotrusion bases 31 a, 31 b are attached at the positions in thevicinity of the top end part of the inner-side face of the frames 6 a, 6b, and the protrusion bases 32 a-39 a, 32 b-329 b are attached in orderthereunder.

The attaching interval of the protrusion bases neighboring to each otheron top and bottom is equivalent to the pitch of arranging therecording/reproducing devices 201-209 in the top-and-bottom direction inthe recording/reproducing portion 66.

That is, with this exemplary embodiment, the supporting portions 21 a-29a, 21 b-29 b for respectively supporting the first tray 11 to the ninthtray 19 are attached to the frames 6 a, 6 b functioning as the traydistributing/holding portion at a predetermined interval, i.e., at theinterval corresponding to the pitch of providing therecording/reproducing device 201-209 in the top-and-bottom direction, soas to correspond to the positions of the protrusions 11 a-19 a, 11 b-19b of the first tray 11 to the ninth tray 19 and so as not to overlapwith each other along the tray thickness direction, i.e., thetop-and-bottom direction which is the stacking direction.

The corresponding relations of the protrusions 11 a-19 a, 11 b-19 b ofthe first tray 11 to the ninth tray 19, the supporting portions 21 a-29a, 21 b-29 b for respectively supporting the first tray 11 to the ninthtray 19, and the protrusion bases 31 a-39 a, 31 b-39 b are shown inreference charts of FIG. 16.

Note, however, that the third tray 13 to the eighth tray 18 and theprotrusion bases 33 a-38 a, 33 b-38 b are omitted in FIG. 16.Practically, the protrusions 11 a, 11 a and the supporting portions 21a, 21 a, the protrusions 11 b, 11 b and the supporting portions 21 b, 21b, etc., the protrusions 19 a, 19 a and the supporting portions 29 a, 29a, and the protrusions 19 b, 19 b and the supporting portions 29 b, 29 boverlap with each other in the tray thickness direction, i.e., thetop-and-bottom direction which is the stacking direction. However, inorder to clearly illustrate the corresponding relations between theprotrusions and the supporting portions, those are illustrated in FIG.16 by offsetting the protrusion bases 31 a-39 a to the left side withrespect to the first tray 11 to the ninth tray 19 and offsetting theprotrusion bases 31 b-39 b to the right side with respect to the firsttray 11 to the ninth tray 19.The width of each supporting portion is formed to be slightly narrowerthan the width of the protrusions in order to avoid interferences of thecorresponding protrusion with other neighboring protrusions. Forexample, the width of the supporting portions 21 a, 21 a is slightlynarrower than the width of the protrusions 11 a, 11 a of the first tray11 and the protrusions 12 a, 12 a of the neighboring second tray 12, sothat the protrusions 12 a, 12 a of the second tray 12 can be moved alongthe top-and-bottom direction, i.e., the vertical direction of the paperface of FIG. 16, over the supporting portions 21 a, 21 a withoutinterfering with the supporting portions 21 a, 21 a. Thus, only theprotrusions 11 a, 11 a of the first tray 11 are supported by theinterference with the supporting portions 21 a, 21 a.

As in the case of the protrusions of the tray side described above, eachof the supporting portions 21 a-29 a, 21 b-29 b never overlaps with anyof other supporting portions in the tray thickness direction, i.e., whenviewed from the direction perpendicular to the paper face of FIG. 9.

In this exemplary embodiment, the protrusions 11 a, 11 a of the firsttray 11 as well as the protrusions 19 b, 19 b of the ninth tray 19 (seeFIG. 1), the supporting portions 21 a, 21 a of the protrusion base 31 aas well as the supporting portions 29 b, 29 b of the protrusion base 39b (see FIG. 16) are formed separately in two pieces. However, those maybe formed as substantially one body.

In that case, the protrusion, i.e., the tray operation portion, of thefirst tray 11 is provided at one point on one side (left side) of thetwo opposing sides and at two points on the other side (right side) ofthe two opposing sides (provided at three points in total).

In the initial state of the tray developing mechanism 102, the table 2functioning as a tray distributing up/down table is located at a standbyposition that is on the upper side than the protrusion bases 31 a, 31 blocated on the uppermost part as shown in FIG. 13.

The standby position herein is a developing operation standby positionwhen developing the stacked optical discs 100 extracted along the traybases 20 from the stockers 1, and it is different from a standbyposition when retrieving the optical discs 100 mounted to therecording/reproducing devices 201-209 and stacking them again, i.e., aretrieving operation standby position (see FIG. 23).

FIG. 17 is a side view showing the transporting portion 60 and therecording/reproducing portion 66, FIG. 18 is a plan view showing thetransporting portion 60 and the recording/reproducing portion 66, andFIG. 19 is an enlarged perspective view showing an adsorption arm 61provided to the transporting portion 60.

As shown in FIG. 17 and FIG. 18, the main part of the transportingportion 60 is configured with: nine absorption arms 61 continuouslyprovided in the top-and-bottom direction in accordance with the numberof optical discs 100 to be stacked; a connector metal fitting 63 whichintegrally attach those absorption arms 61; a vertical actuator 64 whichintegrally moves the nine absorption arms 61 vertically via theconnector metal fitting 63; and a horizontal actuator 65 whichintegrally moves the nine absorption arms 61 in the horizontal directionvia the vertical actuator 64 and the connector metal fitting 63.

That is, it is possible to move the nine absorption arms 61 integrallyalong the vertical and horizontal directions of FIG. 17 with acombination of the vertical actuator 64 and the horizontal actuator 65.The attaching interval of the absorption arms 61 in the top-and-bottomdirection is equivalent to the attaching interval of the protrusionbases 31 a-39 a, 31 b-39 b which are fixed to the frames 6 a, 6 bconfiguring the tray distributing/holding portion along thetop-and-bottom direction, i.e., equivalent to the pitch of providing therecording/reproducing devices 201-209 in the top-and-bottom direction inthe recording/reproducing portion 66.

Further, as shown in FIG. 19, absorption pads 62 in set of three eachfor absorbing the top-face side of the optical disc 100 by avoiding thehole in the center of the optical disc 100 are fixed to the tip end ofeach absorption arm 61.

Each of the absorption pads 62 is a suction member made with rubber orthe like. It is connected to a vacuum pump, not shown, via apressure-resistant tube or the like so as to perform absorbing work andreleasing work of the optical disc 100 with vacuum through on/offoperation of the vacuum pump, operation of open/close valve, or thelike.

Next, actions performed when extracting the stacking type tray 101 fromthe stockers 1 of the housing portion 45, developing the stacked opticaldiscs 100, and mounting those to the recording/reproducing devices201-209 of the recording/reproducing portion 66 as well as operationsperformed when retrieving the optical discs 100 mounted to therecording/reproducing devices 201-209, stacking the discs 100 again, andreturning them to the stockers 1 will be described in a specific mannerby referring to FIG. 20-FIG. 25.

For the sake of clearly illustrating the structure of each portion, thehousing portion 45 which corresponds to the background of the frames 6a, 6 b is omitted in FIG. 21 and FIG. 22, and the housing portion 45 andthe transporting portion 60 corresponding to the background of theframes 6 a, 6 b are omitted in FIG. 23.

In the initial state, as has been described above, the table 2functioning as the tray distributing up/down table is located at thedeveloping operation standby position as in FIG. 13, i.e., the standbyposition on the upper side than the protrusion bases 31 a, 31 b.Further, the absorption arms 61 and the vertical actuator 64 areretracted at positions offset towards the flank side from the developingportion 50 as shown in FIG. 10, for example.

Thus, first, a picker (not shown) provided to the housing portion 45 isoperated to extract the optical disc transportation body 41 selected asthe developing target, i.e., the selected stacking type tray 101 and thetray base 20 to which the stacking type tray 101 is housed from thestocker 1. After loading it on the table 2 of the developing portion 50as in FIG. 20, the picker (not shown) is returned to the standbyposition.

Then, the vertical actuator 4 is driven to move down the table 2 onwhich the optical disc transportation body 41 including the stackingtype tray 101 and the tray base 20 is loaded along the frames 6 a, 6 bfunctioning as the tray distributing/holding portion.

In accordance with the moving-down action of the table 2 which supportsthe stacking type tray 101 from the bottom side via the tray base 20,first, the bottom faces of the protrusions 11 a, 11 b of the first tray11 located on the uppermost layer of the stacking type tray 101 areabutted against the top faces of the supporting portions 21 a, 21 b ofthe protrusion bases 31 a, 31 b provided to the frames 6 a, 6 bfunctioning as the tray distributing/holding portion, and the first tray11 is held at the positions of the protrusion bases 31 a, 31 b as shownin FIG. 21.

At this time, the positioning pins 44 of the supporting portions 21 a,21 b are fitted into the through holes 42 of the protrusions 11 a, 11 bof the first tray 11, thereby preventing the position shift of the firsttray 11.

The tray having the protrusions which abut against the supportingportions 21 a, 21 b is only the first tray 11. Thus, when the table 2moves down further, the other trays, i.e., the second tray 12 to theninth tray 19, along the table 2 and the tray base 20 are moveddownwards while leaving the first tray 11 at the positions of theprotrusion bases 31 a, 31 b.

Then, when the table 2 further moves down, the protrusions 12 a, 12 b ofthe second tray 12 are abutted against the top faces of the supportingportions 22 a, 22 b of the protrusion bases 32 a, 32 b, and the secondtray 12 is held at the positions of the protrusion bases 32 a, 32 b asshown in FIG. 22.

At this time, the positioning pins 44 of the supporting portions 22 a,22 b are fitted into the through holes 42 of the protrusions 12 a, 12 bof the second tray 12, thereby preventing the position shift of thesecond tray 12.

The tray having the protrusions which abut against the supportingportions 22 a, 22 b is only the second tray 12. Thus, when the table 2moves down further, the other trays, i.e., the third tray 13 to theninth tray 19, along the table 2 and the tray base 20 are moveddownwards while leaving the second tray 12 at the positions of theprotrusion bases 32 a, 32 b.

Thereafter, in accordance with the moving-down actions of the table 2,the third tray 13 is held at the positions of the protrusion bases 33 a,33 b, the fourth tray 14 is held at the positions of the protrusionbases 34 a, 34 b, etc., and the ninth tray 19 is held at the positionsof the protrusion bases 39 a, 39 b in the same manner described above.At last, the table 2 loading only the empty tray base 20 moves downwardsto the under the protrusion bases 39 a, 39 b, and stops at theretrieving operation standby position.

FIG. 23 shows a state where all of the trays from the first tray 11 tothe ninth tray 19 configuring the stacking type tray 101 are developedand held to the frames 6 a, 6 b functioning as the traydistributing/holding portion.

Then, the horizontal actuator 65 is driven to move the absorption arms61 from the initial standby position as in FIG. 10 to be brought into aplace between the frames 6 a, 6 b as shown in FIG. 18 so as to bepositioned at approach points slightly above the first tray 11 to theninth tray 19.

Then, the vertical actuator 64 is driven to move down the absorptionarms 61, and the vacuum pump (not shown) is operated to absorb and holdthe optical discs 100 on the first tray 11 to the ninth tray 19 to theabsorption pads 62 as shown in FIG. 24.

During that time, drive-side trays 301-309 are ejected from each of therecording/reproducing devices 201-209 of the recording/reproducingportion 66 as in FIG. 25.

Then, the vertical actuator 64 is driven to move up the absorption arms61 to be returned to the approach points.

Further, the horizontal actuator 65 is driven to move the absorptionarms 61 in the horizontal direction to transport each of the opticaldiscs 100 which are absorbed and held by the absorption pads 62 to thepositions above the drive-side trays 301-309, and operation of thevacuum pump (not shown) is stopped to release the optical discs 100 fromeach of the absorption pads 62 so as to load each of the optical discs100 on the drive-side trays 301-309 as shown in FIG. 25.

Thereafter, under control of a control device, not shown, the drive-sidetrays 301-309 on which the optical discs 100 are loaded are stored inthe recording/reproducing devices 201-209 in the same manner as that ofconventional cases to execute processing actions regarding recording orreproduction of data.

Then, when the processing actions regarding recording or reproduction ofdata are completed, the recording/reproducing devices 201-209 areejected again from the drive-side trays 201-309.

Actions for retrieving, restacking, and returning the optical discs 100to the stockers 1 are executed through back-tracing the actionsdescribed above.

That is, first, the vertical actuator 64 is driven to move down theabsorption arms 61, and the vacuum pump (not shown) is operated toabsorb and hold the optical discs 100 on the drive-side trays 301-309with each of the absorption pads 62 as shown in FIG. 25, for example.

Then, the vertical actuator 64 is driven to retract the absorption arms61 holding the optical discs 100 to positions slightly above thedrive-side trays 301-309 so as to retrieve the drive-side trays 301-309to the inside the recording/reproducing devices 201-209.

Further, the horizontal actuator 65 is driven to move the absorptionarms 61 in the horizontal direction so as to set the positions of theabsorption arms 61 to the approach points on the first tray 11 to theninth tray 19.

Then, operation of the vacuum pump (not shown) is stopped to release theoptical discs 100 from each of the absorption pads 62 so as to load eachof the optical discs 100 on the first tray 11 to the ninth tray 19 asshown in FIG. 24, for example.

Then, the horizontal actuator 65 is driven to move the absorption arms61 horizontally to return the absorption arms 61 to the retractionpositions as in FIG. 10.

Then, the vertical actuator 4 is driven to move up the table 2 on whichonly the tray base 20 is loaded along the frames 6 a, 6 b functioning asthe tray distributing/holding portion.

The state of the surroundings of the frames 6 a, 6 b at the point ofstarting the moving-up action of the table 2 is the same as the stateshown in FIG. 23.

In accordance with the moving-up action of the table 2, first, thebottom face of the ninth tray 19 is brought up by abutting against thetray base 20 on the table 2, and the protrusions 19 a, 19 b of the ninthtray 19 are released upwards from the supporting portions 29 a, 29 b ofthe protrusion bases 39 a, 39 b and the positioning pins 44, 44, so thatthe ninth tray 19 starts to move upwards along with the table 2 and thetray base 20.

When the table 2 moves up further, the bottom face of the eighth tray 18is brought up by abutting against the top face of the ninth tray 19 onthe tray base 20, and the protrusions 18 a, 18 b of the eighth tray 18are released upwards from the supporting portions 28 a, 28 b of theprotrusion bases 38 a, 38 b and the positioning pins 44, 44, so that theeighth tray 18 starts to move upwards along with the table 2, the traybase 20, and the ninth tray 19.

Thereafter, in accordance with the moving-up actions of the table 2, theseventh tray 17 is retrieved by being stacked over the eighth tray 18,the sixth tray 16 is retrieved by being stacked over the seventh tray17, etc., and the first tray 11 is retrieved by being stacked over thesecond tray 12 in the same manner described above. At last, all thetrays from the first tray 11 to the ninth tray 19 are stacked on thetray base 20 to be overlapped.

Then, the table 2 on which the tray base 20 and the stacking type 101configured with the first tray 11 to the ninth tray 19, i.e., theoptical disc transportation bodies 41, are loaded moves up to the abovethe protrusion bases 31 a, 31 b, and then stops at the developingoperation standby position described above.

This state is the same as the state shown in FIG. 20.

Thereafter, the picker (not shown) is operated to return the opticaldisc transportation bodies 41 to the housing places of the stockers 1.Thereby, a series of actions regarding developing of the stacking typetrays, extraction of the optical discs from the developed trays,insertion of the optical discs to the plurality of recording/reproducingdevices, writing and reading of data to/from the optical discs,retrieval of the optical discs from the recording/reproducing devices,storage of the optical discs to the trays, restacking of the trays, andretrieval of the stacking type trays to the stockers are all completed.

In the above, the exemplary embodiment which forms the tray operationportions by projecting the protrusions from the circumferential sectionsof the substantially rectangular trays towards the outer side has beendescribed. However, it is also possible to form the tray operationportions by providing step-like notches in the circumferential sectionsof the substantially rectangular trays.

Next, an exemplary embodiment of a stacking type tray in which trayoperation portions are formed by utilizing notches and an exemplaryembodiment of the tray developing mechanism which is formed bycorresponding to the stacking type tray will be described simply byreferring to an example.

The differences with respect to the exemplary embodiment described aboveare only the shape of the tray operation portion in each tray, the shapeof the protrusion base corresponding to the tray operation portion, andthe shape of the supporting portion provided to the protrusion base.Thus, explanations regarding the overall structure of the traydeveloping mechanism are omitted, and only the structure of the trayitself and the peripheral structure of the frames 6 a, 6 b functioningas the tray distributing/holding portion will be described herein.

FIG. 26 is a plan view showing the shapes of a first tray 71 to a ninthtray 79 instead of the first tray 11 to the ninth tray 19 of theexemplary embodiment described above, and the structures of protrusionbases 91 a-99 a, 91 b-99 b and supporting portions 81 a-89 a, 81 b-89 binstead of the protrusion bases 31 a-39 a, 31 b-39 b and the supportingportions 21 a-29 a, 21 b-29 b of the exemplary embodiment describedabove.

However, as in the case of FIG. 16 used for explaining the exemplaryembodiment described above, the corresponding relations between the trayoperation portions and the supporting portions are illustrated in FIG.26 by offsetting the protrusion bases 91 a-99 a to the left side withrespect to the first tray 71 to the ninth tray 79 and offsetting theprotrusion bases 91 b-99 b to the right side with respect to the firsttray 71 to the ninth tray 79.

As shown in FIG. 26, step-like notches are provided in the four cornersof the first tray 71 to the ninth tray 79, and the shapes thereof aredifferent for each tray.

Further, considering each of the trays 71-79 individually, the step-likenotches in each tray are bilaterally symmetrical and verticallysymmetrical.

The members located on the left and right sides in each tray in FIG. 26are the protrusion bases 91 a-99 a, 91 b-99 b provided on the insideface of the frames 6 a, 6 b functioning as the tray distributing/holdingportion (see FIG. 30), and supporting portions 81 a-89 a, 81 b-89 b areprovided at positions corresponding to the step-like notches of each ofthe trays 71-79.

The width of the supporting portions 81 a-89 a, 81 b-89 b is formed tobe slightly narrower than the step width of the step-like notches ofeach of the trays 71-79.

FIG. 27 is a bottom view of a stacking type tray 103 formed by stackingthe first tray 71 to the ninth tray 79 viewed from the bottom-face side,FIG. 28 is a perspective view of the stacking type tray 103 viewed fromthe bottom side obliquely, and FIG. 29 is an enlarged perspective viewof the step-like notches formed in the first tray 71 to the ninth tray79 shown in FIG. 27.

The trays are stacked in order of the ninth tray 79, the eighth tray 78,the seventh tray 77, etc., and the third tray 73, the second tray 72,and the first tray 71 from the bottom.

Hatchings of different patterns applied in FIG. 27 for each tray otherthan the ninth tray 79 make it easier to distinguish non-overlappingportions of each tray, i.e., the portions which do not overlap with eachother in the stacking direction.

As shown in FIG. 27-FIG. 29, each tray has an exposed portion which isnot blocked by other trays when the stacking type tray 103 is viewedfrom the bottom-face side. This exposed portion is the tray operationportion of each tray.

FIG. 30 is a perspective view showing the structure of the main part ofthe developing portion, i.e., the structure of the traydistributing/holding portion configured with the frames 6 a, 6 b, thedeveloped state of the first tray 71 to the ninth tray 79 which are heldfrom the bottom side by the supporting portions 81 a-89 a, 81 b-89 bprovided to the protrusion bases 91 a-99 a, 91 b-99 b fixed to theframes 6 a, 6 b.

The stocker portion, the transporting portion, and the like are the sameas those of the exemplary embodiment described above, so thatillustrations thereof are omitted in FIG. 30.

The frames 6 a and 6 b are attached vertically to the base plate 5, asin the case of the exemplary embodiment described above. The protrusionbases 91 a-99 a, 91 b-99 b are attached to the inside face of the frames6 a, 6 b at a specific interval, i.e., at the interval same as the pitchof providing the recording/reproducing devices 201-209 in therecording/reproducing portion 66 as in FIG. 25.

FIG. 31 is a plan view showing the top view of the frames 6 a, 6 b towhich the protrusion bases 91 a-99 a, 91 b-99 b are attached.

The same type hatchings as those used in the explanation of FIG. 27 areapplied to the top faces of each of the supporting portions 81 a-89 a,81 b-89 b which are provided to the protrusion bases 91 a-99 a, 91 b-99b to clearly show the portions which abut against the respective trayoperation portions of the first tray 71 to the ninth tray 97.

As shown in FIG. 31, the areas of the supporting portions 81 a-89 a, 81b-89 b abutting against each tray are exposed without being overlappedwith each other from the inverted direction of the tray stackingdirection, i.e., the direction where the first tray 71 is the uppermostlayer.

As in the case of the exemplary embodiment described above, thedeveloping work of the first tray 71 to the ninth tray 97 can be done inthe tray developing mechanism to which the structures shown in FIG.26-FIG. 31 are employed, through loading the stacked first tray 71 tothe ninth tray 79, i.e., the stacking type tray 103, on the table 2 andmoving it downwards from above the tray distributing/holding portion,i.e., from the frames 6 a, 6 b.

FIG. 32 is an explanatory diagram showing existence of interferences ineach tray operation portion of the first tray 71 to the ninth tray 79 bytaking the supporting portions 81 a, 81 b of the protrusion bases 91 a,91 b located on the uppermost part of the tray distributing/holdingportion as the reference. FIG. 33 is an explanatory diagram showingexistence of interferences in each tray operation portion of the secondtray 72 to the ninth tray 79 by taking the supporting portions 82 a, 82b of the protrusion bases 92 a, 92 b located on the second uppermostpart of the tray distributing/holding portion as the reference. FIG. 34is an explanatory diagram showing existence of interferences in eachtray operation portion of the third tray 73 to the ninth tray 79 bytaking the supporting portions 83 a, 83 b of the protrusion bases 93 a,93 b located on the third uppermost part of the traydistributing/holding portion as the reference.

As shown in FIG. 32, the notch portions of the second tray 72 to theninth tray 79 do not interfere with the supporting portions 81 a, 81 blocated on the uppermost part of the tray distributing/holding portion,so that all of the trays from the second tray 72 to the ninth tray 79can pass through the supporting portions 81 a, 81 b and can be broughtdownwards along with the table 2 (not shown).

In the meantime, as shown in FIG. 32, the notch portions of the firsttray 71 interfere with the supporting portions 81 a, 81 b located on theuppermost part of the tray distributing/holding portion. Thus, in aprocess where the table 2 (not shown) passes through the position of thesupporting portions 81 a, 81 b, only the first tray 71 is supported bythe supporting portions 81 a, 81 b, and held at the positions of theprotrusion bases 91 a, 91 b shown in FIG. 30.The tray operation portions of the first tray 71 abutting against thesupporting portions 81 a, 81 b shown in FIG. 31 are the hatching partshown with a reference numeral 71 in FIG. 27.

Then, the table 2 (not shown) moves down further while keeping the firsttray 71 at the positions of the protrusion bases 91 a, 91 b, and thenreaches at the positions of the protrusion bases 92 a, 92 b.

As shown in FIG. 33, the notch portions of the third tray 73 to theninth tray 79 do not interfere with the supporting portions 82 a, 82 bof the tray distributing/holding portion, so that all of the trays fromthe third tray 73 to the ninth tray 79 can pass through the supportingportions 82 a, 82 b and can be brought downwards along with the table 2(not shown).In the meantime, as shown in FIG. 33, the notch portions of the secondtray 72 interfere with the supporting portions 82 a, 82 b of the traydistributing/holding portion. Thus, in a process where the table 2 (notshown) passes through the position of the supporting portions 82 a, 82b, only the second tray 72 is supported by the supporting portions 82 a,82 b, and held at the positions of the protrusion bases 92 a, 92 b shownin FIG. 30.The tray operation portions of the second tray 72 abusing against thesupporting portions 82 a, 82 b shown in FIG. 31 are the hatching partshown with a reference numeral 72 in FIG. 27.

Then, the table 2 (not shown) moves down further while keeping thesecond tray 72 at the positions of the protrusion bases 92 a, 92 b, andthen reaches at the positions of the protrusion bases 93 a, 93 b.

As shown in FIG. 34, the notch portions of the fourth tray 74 to theninth tray 79 do not interfere with the supporting portions 83 a, 83 bof the tray distributing/holding portion, so that all of the trays fromthe fourth tray 74 to the ninth tray 79 can pass through the supportingportions 83 a, 83 b and can be brought downwards along with the table 2(not shown).In the meantime, as shown in FIG. 34, the notch portions of the thirdtray 73 interfere with the supporting portions 83 a, 83 b of the traydistributing/holding portion. Thus, in a process where the table 2 (notshown) passes through the position of the supporting portions 83 a, 83b, only the third tray 73 is supported by the supporting portions 83 a,83 b, and held at the positions of the protrusion bases 93 a, 93 b shownin FIG. 30.The tray operation portions of the third tray 73 abusing against thesupporting portions 83 a, 83 b shown in FIG. 31 are the hatching partshown with a reference numeral 73 in FIG. 27.

Thereafter, in accordance with the moving-down actions of the table 2(not shown), the fourth tray 74 is held at the positions of theprotrusion bases 94 a, 94 b, the fifth tray 95 is held at the positionsof the protrusion bases 95 a, 95 b, etc., and the ninth tray 99 is heldat the positions of the protrusion bases 99 a, 99 b in the same mannerdescribed above. At last, the trays are developed in the state as shownin FIG. 30.

The other actions are completely the same as those of theabove-described exemplary embodiment.

As in the case of the above-described exemplary embodiment, the centroidof each tray also comes to be located inside the rectangular virtualplane of each tray formed by having the tray operation portions of eachtray as the vertexes in this exemplary embodiment. Thus, all the trayscan be stably held by supporting a total of four tray operation portionsprovided to each tray from the bottom side.

Further, unlike the case of the above-described exemplary embodiment,the tray operation portions formed by the notches are provided insteadof the protrusions. Therefore, the size of the width of the trays can bereduced compared to the case of the above-described exemplaryembodiment.

With any of the exemplary embodiments described above, it is unnecessaryto integrate the optical discs 100 themselves by utilizing any specialconnecting body or the like even though the exemplary embodiments arethe structures which simultaneously handle a plurality of optical discs100. Therefore, no special production facility is required for producingthe storage media, and it is easy to exchange each of the optical discs100 independently.

Further, the recording/reproducing portion 66 can be formed by simplystacking the recording/reproducing devices 201-209 on the market formedin a typical structure. Thus, even though the recording/reproducingportion is the structure which simultaneously handles a plurality ofoptical discs 100, it is unnecessary to design and manufacture anyspecial recording/reproducing portions. Thus, the manufacturing cost forthe entire device can be reduced.

Further, by employing the structure which can adjust the interval ofproviding the protrusion bases 31 a-39 a, 31 b-39 b (91 a-99 a, 91 b-99b) in the top-and-bottom direction and the interval of providing theabsorption arms 61 in the top-and-bottom direction, it becomes possibleto easily deal with changes in the specifications of therecording/reproducing devices 201-209 such as changes in the thickness,etc.

The tray simply needs to have a function of loading and storing theoptical discs 100, and it is unnecessary to rotate the optical discs 100on the tray, to extract a single tray by a picker or the like, andalmost unnecessary to have a clearance between the thickness of the trayitself as well as the tray and the optical discs 100 (see FIG. 6).

Therefore, the optical discs 100 can be housed in the stocker in anextremely close-fitted state, thereby making it possible to form acompact device particularly when housing a great number of optical discs100.

The exemplary embodiments have been described by referring to the casewhere nine pieces of optical discs 100 are used simultaneously. However,in practice, there is no problem at all in the action itself of the traydeveloping mechanism 102 even when the optical disc 100 is not loaded inany of the trays from the first tray 11 to 19 (71 to 79), i.e., having ablank tray, or any of the trays is being drawn out, as long as thestacking order of the first tray 11 to 19 (71 to 79) is correct.

Therefore, in a case where only the recording/reproducing device 205shown in FIG. 25 breaks down, for example, it is possible to continuethe operation state of other recording/reproducing devices 201-204,206-209 excluding the recording/reproducing device 205 through takingout the optical disc 100 from the fifth tray 15 (75) or taking out onlythe fifth tray 15 (75) from the set of the stacking type tray 101 (103).

While the present invention has been described by referring to theembodiments (and examples), the present invention is not limited only tothose embodiments (and examples) described above. Various kinds ofmodifications that occur to those skilled in the art can be applied tothe structures and details of the present invention within the scope ofthe present invention.

This Application claims the Priority right based on Japanese PatentApplication No. 2007-302051 filed on Nov. 21, 2007 and the disclosurethereof is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The present invention makes it possible to provide the stacking typetray, the tray developing mechanism, and the stacking type traydeveloping system, which can compactly stack and house disc-typerecording media without forming the disc-type recording media in aspecial structure, and can form a proper gap between each of therecording media for making it possible to load the disc-type recordingmedia to a plurality of recording/reproducing devices simultaneously.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic structure of a tray of anexemplary embodiment to which the present invention is employed byreferring to a case where a stacking type tray is formed by stackingtrays for loading optical discs as a type of disc-type recording media;

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the structure of a first tray which formsa part of the stacking type tray;

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a state where the first tray and a secondtray forming a part of the stacking type tray are stacked;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the structure of a tray base forloading the stacking type tray;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a stacking state of the first trayto a ninth tray forming the stacking type tray with a gap providedtherebetween;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a state where the stacking typetray is loaded on the tray base;

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing an undesired example of layout ofprotrusions provided to the tray;

FIG. 8 is an illustration showing bottom-face side view of the stackingtype tray formed by stacking all the trays along the tray stackingdirection;

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing one exemplary embodiment of a traydeveloping mechanism for forming a gap in a predetermined size betweeneach of the trays by developing each of the trays which configure thestacking type tray in the thickness direction;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the structure of the tray developingmechanism;

FIG. 11 is a plan view showing the structure of an optical disctransportation body which is formed by the stacking type tray housed onthe tray base;

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary top plan view of a developing portion of thetray developing mechanism;

FIG. 13 is a side view of the developing portion of the tray developingmechanism taken along an arrow A;

FIG. 14 show plan views of specific structures of some of the protrusionbases having supporting portions;

FIG. 15 is an illustration showing a corresponding relation of attachingpositions of the protrusion bases in a pair;

FIG. 16 shows reference charts showing corresponding relations betweenthe protrusions of each tray and the supporting portions of a traydistributing/holding portion;

FIG. 17 is a side view of a transporting portion of the tray developingmechanism;

FIG. 18 is a plan view of the transporting portion of the traydeveloping mechanism;

FIG. 19 is an enlarged perspective view showing an absorption armprovided to the transporting portion;

FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram showing actions of the tray developingmechanism, which shows a state where the table is at a developingoperation standby position;

FIG. 21 is an explanatory diagram showing actions of the tray developingmechanism, which shows a state where the first tray is separated andheld by a moving-down action of the table;

FIG. 22 is an explanatory diagram showing actions of the tray developingmechanism, which shows a state where the first tray and the second trayare separated and held by a moving-down action of the table;

FIG. 23 is an explanatory diagram showing actions of the tray developingmechanism, which shows a state where all of the trays from the firsttray to the ninth tray are separated and held by moving-down actions ofthe table;

FIG. 24 is an explanatory diagram showing actions of the tray developingmechanism, which shows a state where the absorption pads are positionedat approach points slightly above the first tray to the ninth tray;

FIG. 25 is an explanatory diagram showing actions of the tray developingmechanism, which shows a state where the optical discs are loaded todrive-side trays of each of the recording/reproducing devices;

FIG. 26 is a plan view showing the shapes of the first tray to the ninthtray as well as shapes of protrusion bases and supporting portionscorresponding to each tray according to another exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 27 is an illustration showing a bottom-side view of a stacking typetray formed by stacking the trays of the exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 28 is a perspective view of the stacking type tray taken obliquelyfrom the bottom side;

FIG. 29 is a fragmentary enlarged view of FIG. 28, which shows detailsof step-like notches formed on the first tray to the ninth tray of theexemplary embodiment;

FIG. 30 is a perspective view showing a state of the first to the ninthtray 7 of the exemplary embodiment developed on the traydistributing/holding portion of the developing portion;

FIG. 31 is a top plan view of the tray distributing/holding portion ofthe exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 32 is an explanatory illustration showing existence ofinterferences in the first tray to the ninth tray by taking thesupporting portions located on the uppermost part of the traydistributing/holding portion as the reference;

FIG. 33 is an explanatory illustration showing existence ofinterferences in the second tray to the ninth tray by taking thesupporting portions located on the second uppermost part of the traydistributing/holding portion as the reference; and

FIG. 34 is an explanatory illustration showing existence ofinterferences in the third tray to the ninth tray by taking thesupporting portions located on the third uppermost part of the traydistributing/holding portion as the reference.

REFERENCE NUMERALS

1 Stocker

2 Table (tray distributing up/down table)

3 Bracket

4 Vertical actuator

5 Base plate

6 a, 6 b Frame (tray distributing/holding portion)

11 First tray

11 a, 11 b Protrusion (tray operation portion)

12 Second tray

12 a, 12 b Protrusion (tray operation portion)

13 Third tray

13 a, 13 b Protrusion (tray operation portion)

14 Fourth tray

14 a, 14 b Protrusion (tray operation portion)

15 Fifth tray

15 a, 15 b Protrusion (tray operation portion)

16 Sixth tray

16 a, 16 b Protrusion (tray operation portion)

17 Seventh tray

17 a, 17 b Protrusion (tray operation portion)

18 Eighth tray

18 a, 18 b Protrusion (tray operation portion)

19 Ninth tray

19 a, 19 b Protrusion (tray operation portion)

20 Tray base

21 a-29 a, 21 b-29 b Supporting portion

31 a-39 a, 31 b-39 b Protrusion base

40 Recessed part

41 Optical disc transportation body

42 Through hole

43 Tray loading portion

44 Positioning pin

45 Housing portion

50 Developing portion

60 Transporting portion

61 Absorption arm

62 Absorption pad

63 Connector metal fitting

64 Vertical actuator

65 Horizontal actuator

66 Recording/reproducing portion

71 First tray

72 Second tray

73 Third tray

74 Fourth tray

75 Fifth tray

76 Sixth tray

77 Seventh tray

78 Eighth tray

79 Ninth tray

81 a-89 a, 81 b-89 b Supporting portion

91 a-99 a, 91 b-99 b Protrusion base

100 Optical disc (disc-type storage medium)

101 Stacking type tray

102 Tray developing mechanism

103 Stacking type tray

201-209 Recording/reproducing device

301-309 Drive-side tray

1-8. (canceled)
 9. A stacking type tray formed by stacking trays forloading disc-type recording media in thickness direction, comprisingtray operation portions provided at least at three points in acircumferential section of each of the trays, which do not overlap withany other trays in the thickness direction in a state where all thetrays are being stacked.
 10. The stacking type tray as claimed in claim9, wherein: each of the trays is formed in a substantially rectangularshape; a protrusion which forms the tray operation portion is providedat least one point on each of opposing two sides and at least threepoints in total on the two opposing sides; positions of each of theprotrusions are shifted along directions of each side for each of thetrays; and centroid of each of the trays is located inside a virtualplane of each of the trays formed by having each of the protrusions asvertexes.
 11. The stacking type tray as claimed in claim 10, wherein:the protrusion is provided at two points each on the two opposing sides;isolated distance between each of the protrusions on one of the twoopposing sides increases in order according to stacking order of thetrays; isolated distance between each of the protrusions on other sideof the two opposing sides decreases in order according to the stackingorder of the trays; and sum of the isolated distances between theprotrusions of each side becomes substantially same as length of one ofthe sides.
 12. The stacking type tray as claimed in claim 11, wherein:the protrusion is provided at two points in a center part of the oneside of the two opposing sides of the tray located on an uppermostlayer; and the protrusion is provided at two points on both ends of theother side of the two opposing sides of the tray located on theuppermost layer.
 13. The stacking type tray as claimed in claim 9,wherein: each of the trays is formed in a substantially rectangularshape; and the tray operation portion is formed by providing a step-likenotch in four corners of the tray.
 14. A tray developing mechanism forforming a gap in a predetermined size between each of the trays bydeveloping each of the trays of the stacking type tray claimed in claim9 in the thickness direction, the mechanism comprising: a traydistributing/holding portion including supporting portions forsupporting each of the trays, which are provided by corresponding to thepositions of the tray operation portions with the gap formedtherebetween in the thickness direction so that each of the supportingportions do not overlap with each other; and a tray distributing up/downtable which moves up and down in the thickness direction along the traydistributing/holding portion by supporting a bottom-face of the traylocated on a lowermost layer from a bottom side.
 15. The tray developingmechanism as claimed in claim 14, further comprising: a housing portionfor housing a plurality of stacking type trays; and a developing-targettray transporting mechanism which takes out a single selected stackingtype tray from the housing portion and loads it on the tray distributingup/down table.
 16. A stacking type tray developing system, comprising: astacking type tray formed by stacking a plurality of trays having trayoperation portions not overlapping with other trays in thicknessdirection provided in circumferential sections; and a tray developingmechanism for forming a gap in a predetermined size between each of thetrays by developing each of the trays of the stacking type tray, whereinthe tray developing mechanism comprises: a tray distributing/holdingportion including supporting portions for supporting each of the trays,which are provided by corresponding to the positions of the trayoperation portions with the gap formed therebetween in the thicknessdirection so that each of the supporting portions do not overlap witheach other in the thickness direction; and a tray distributing up/downtable which moves up and down in the thickness direction along the traydistributing/holding portion by supporting a bottom-face of the traylocated on a lowermost layer from a bottom side.
 17. A stacking typetray developing system, comprising: a stacking type tray formed bystacking a plurality of trays having tray operation portions notoverlapping with other trays in thickness direction provided incircumferential sections; and tray developing means for forming a gap ina predetermined size between each of the trays by developing each of thetrays of the stacking type tray, wherein the tray developing meanscomprises: a tray distributing/holding portion including supportingmeans for supporting each of the trays, which are provided bycorresponding to the positions of the tray operation portions with thegap formed therebetween in the thickness direction so that each of thesupporting means do not overlap with each other in the thicknessdirection; and a tray distributing up/down table which moves up and downin the thickness direction along the tray distributing/holding portionby supporting a bottom-face of the tray located on a lowermost layerfrom a bottom side.